Detroit Lions: Fandom origins and my unique origin story

Regardless if you root for the Detroit Lions or not, all of our fandoms have a unique origin story. Oftentimes these stories reveal incredible moments.

The managing editor over at Pride of Detroit, Jeremy Reisman, did an open thread that asked “How did you become a Detroit Lions fan?” And me seeing that served as part of the impetus for this post.

No two fandom stories are 100% the same and as I’ve met people from all over the world, if I find out that they’re an NFL fan, I ask two questions: who’s their favorite team? and why/how they came to that decision? Those two simple questions turn into great conversations and great conversations foster great relationships.

When people find out that I am a ride-or-die fan of the Detroit Lions, one of two things inevitably happen, 1) I’m met with immediate jokes and ridicule and 2) they derisively ask me why? After which, I always put on my cape and I engage in some serious verbal acrobatics that both describe and defend my fandom in one fell swoop!

My fandom story

I was born in Detroit, MI and when I was two years old my mother packed our belongings and we made the trek to Hapeville, GA via Greyhound bus. We would go on to stay in and around the vicinity of Atlanta for essentially my entire childhood.

Even though there is a pretty good sports culture in the city, with residents passionately rooting for the Hawks, Braves, and Falcons, I never fully developed a long-lasting connection to those teams despite some initial curiosity on my part.

As a kid, in my mind, I couldn’t really lay claim to Atlanta’s teams since I wasn’t actually born there. I was always proud of the fact that I was born in Detroit and it made me feel a connection to the city despite not growing up there. My mother did grow up there though and she always shared with me stories of the city from her childhood and of our early days there before we moved to Georgia.

My first pieces of sports gear (I think!) were a matching black t-shirt and ball cap that commemorated the back-to-back NBA championships won by the “Bad Boys” era Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990.

That gear was sent to us in Georgia by my grandfather who still lived in Detroit. He was a longtime employee of the Detroit News from the late seventies to the mid-nineties and would eventually go on to retire from the company.

It was my granddad who is mainly responsible for developing my rooting interests in the Motor City sports teams.

We would watch the Pistons and Red Wings together whenever he visited us in Atlanta and I always ensured that I stayed on top of the latest and greatest happenings with the Lions and Tigers.

Just like other long-term Lions fans, my granddad would come back for more each year only to be disappointed at the end of yet another losing season. Though I could have gone a different route, I made the choice to stick with what I knew best even though I knew team success wasn’t necessarily on the horizon.

Just like many of you, my loyal fandom has carried me through years of bad quarterback play, Barry’s (early) retirement, the Matt Millen era, the 0-16 season, multiple bad calls by the referees, Calvin Johnson‘s (early) retirement, and more bad calls by the refs!

When my wife and I met in 2006, we clicked instantly on all levels except for one. Even though she was born and raised in California, she was somehow a Green Bay Packers fan!

Whenever our teams went head-to-head, those games were interesting because from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, the Pack more often than not came away with the W. Over the subsequent 12 years though, my wife’s NFL allegiance shifted.

She grew tired of seeing me upset on Sundays due to a lack of success and to her credit, she fully committed herself to the ”dark side” and became a Lions fan as well so we would be able to share and celebrate together after Lion wins.

We have a son and four daughters and though I’ve given them free reign to pick their own favorite teams (except for the Packers, Vikings, or Bears!) they are all little Lions fans and it’s so awesome because Lions games are truly an event in our home!

My son got really emotional watching Golden Tate‘s touchdown reversal/clock runoff to end the game last year against the Falcons. That loss hit him pretty hard and it struck me to see him get so emotional.

My military service currently has us in our second tour of duty in WA state, right in the middle of the 12th man territory of the Seattle Seahawks!

Despite this, my entire family (all seven of us!) proudly represents the Honolulu blue!

Long story short, I guess you could say I was born into my fandom and I’ve spread that joy (and sometimes sadness!) to the next generation of my family.

Like I mentioned previously, as fans, our fandom stories can be pretty incredible and after seeing that open thread over at Pride of Detroit, I wanted to share my origin story on this platform.

I always enjoy hearing other people’s fandom stories so whether it’s in the comments or via social media, feel free to hit me up and share your own stories!